Help with 4 and 5 finger speed

[BoliverAllmon]

ok, I am attempting to play certain pieces (Turkish March, chopin's fantasie impromptu) that require extreme speed and agility in the ring and pinky fingers. I know the notes to most of Turkish March, but can't seem to play it because of lack of speed in the last two fingers. Should I continue to play and just keep working on it, or should I do something else to strengthen and speed up the finger then come back and finish playing the piece? I really like the Hanon studies and have found that they are helping, but not sure if they will help to the extent that I want them to.

Boliver Allmon III

[amp]

Keep the pieces fresh, work on them, but also keep up the finger excersizes. You're on the rigth track, for sure.

Also, you have been studying less than a year. These things take time. Some people who've been studing 10 years then just start those pieces. I'm not discouraging you, but it will take some time. And you'll have to work on those pieces along time to, first get them up to tempo, and then work on the musical qualities of both.

You are working on the "real" versions of them, right?

[chopinetta]

hanon does great! it's what i'm using right now. i've had turkish march years ago and i still could not play it perfectly. are you referring to alla turca k331 by mozart?? because that's what i have, i'm having the sheetmusicarchive version... the hanon will do great on it!

[amee]

I agree with Chopinetta and amp completely.  Any exercise book will help; Hanon and Czerny are good.  Pischna also has some great exercises for strengthening the fourth and fifth fingers.

[tempest-Sonata]

JUst keep practicing hannon yo
im sure you will find some differences
hanon specializes about strength, dexterity and eveness in your fingers.
it articulates its exercises in your 4th and 5th fingers
it has 4th & 5th trill exercises too. be sure to tire off your hand practicing hanon.
and you will see the improvements.

[BoliverAllmon]

Correct, I have been playing for less than a year and I have the original( well at least the ones from sheetmusicarchive, I don't know which is the original of fantasie). I have noticed that I have pretty good speed in the left hand with all fingers, and exceptional speed with the first three fingers on the right. I believe this is from playing my bass. Those are the fingers that are used. I don't doubt that the fingers will catch up, I was just wondering if I was on the right track. I actually enjoy playing Hanon until my fingers and forearms feel like they are going to fall off. It is weird I know. Most hate the exercises and consider them monotonous (sp?)

Boliver Allmon III

[chopiszte]

if you are having trouble with alla turca why are you trying the Fantasie-Impromptu?

FI must be played perfectly in my opinion, I hate it when everyone tries to pull a Fur Elise and play this early on and play it awfully, then claim it is Chopin.

You need to work on fingering.  Alla turca shouldn't be considered as extreme in speed, and you use your fifth finger in sixteenth notes only a few times.  The opening notes are 43212, for example, I hope you don't use the fifth finger there.  The middle section is slightly more difficult, if I remember correctly I used my fifth finger in it twice.  


good luck on alla turca, but take my advice and don't create bad habits on the fantasie-impromptu, which is  many times more difficult.

If alla turca is a bit fast for you, try Czerny.  I presonally don't like hanon and I have heard bad things about it, that it detriments certain techniques.

[BoliverAllmon]

Agreed on Alla Turca, I only use the fourth and fifth finger combo a couple of times, but those couple of times drive me up the wall. I only goof around on FI. What parts I have done the fourth and fifth fingers are hardly used. Now, granted I know very little on the piece, just that I would one day enjoy playing it. I agree on playing pieces when you just aren't capable of doing it. At my last recital, there was this guy who played Mozarts Fantasy in D minor. He got an overwhelming applause when he played it, but I considered it terrible, because he played it tremendously slower than what is written. Granted, if both of us were to sit down today and play it, he would be better, only because I have never tried the piece.

I do have another question though. I would really like to brag about being able to play a Chopin piece. I am pretty sure that I am dropping FI for a while. I was thinking his Fantasy in F(?) it is one of the slowest pieces I have heard of his, it does have some difficult speedy sections, but for the most part it is up my alley. What do you guys think? If not this piece which one?

Boliver Allmon III

[BuyBuy]

Chopin Fantasy in F not difficult ? I think that you haven't played long enough to judge correctly of that, no offense, but that's what I think...

If you work on stuff like Mozart sonata in A, and you want Chopin, try some of his mazurkas or nocturnes. Many should be challenging enough.

[BoliverAllmon]

I have listened to the song many times and even studied the sheet music. I don't see anything overly difficult from the piece. Maybe I don't know hard from easy, but to me as long as the beats match, then the rest can be accomplished with little difficulty especially when the piece isn't extremely fast.

BoliverAllmon